This half term so far has been an exciting one for 3CB! Last week we got to practice a number of different skills such as juicing, chopping and straining while making our very own fruit smoothie. We had a selection of fruit to choose from and in our group chose the fruit we all liked best. It was very messy but we created a lot of juice (from some fruits more than others) and got to try it at the end of the lesson.  

This week we also made our own salt dough, there was flour everywhere! We spent a long time kneading our dough to ensure it was the right consistency as we were using to it to make a model. We were modelling a coastline which we have been learning all about. We were discussing how erosion effects our coastline and using this knowledge to create an arch, a headland, a stack, a stump and a beach. 

In 3DL’s English lessons this week we have been writing informal letters using the features we learnt about last week. As our class book this term is The Iron Man, we have been writing letters between the main characters; The Iron Man and Hogarth. We needed to imagine we were the character so needed to think about how they would feel and what they would say to their friend. 

In Science we have been learning about different food groups. We used the Eatwell Plate to plan a balanced diet for one day. We found it quite tricky sorting some of the food into one group because many foods can fit into more than one group.  

We made a fruit smoothie in DT, which was fun because we didn’t use a blender. Instead we pureed the fruit through a sieve after cutting it up using the bridge technique. We enjoyed tasting our finished product but found it was hard work for not a lot of smoothie! 
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In RE we have been comparing religious stories from Christianity and Judaism. In groups we acted out the story of Passover. We looked at how the stories relate to the festivals of Christmas, Easter and Pesach. In addition, we thought about how these festivals are celebrated by their followers. ​

​During our outdoor learning sessions we have been looking at the work of the inspiring artist Andy Goldsworthy. The children have been making art in nature to create sustainable pieces of art work, using the things we have in our natural environment.
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We have also been looking at the herbs growing in our garden area. We have been learning to identify and name them. The children have been interested to learn about how they can be used in cooking and for other things.
Children have been continuing to look for the trees and observing the sessional changes. We have been looking if the trees are ever green or deciduous.

This week Y5 were not able to stay in our classes for the first part of the morning due to SATs going on, we let small groups of Y6 pupils use our classrooms. All of Y5 had to go into the sports hall for extra PE with Mr Bennett. On Monday and Wednesday we had to change into our PE kits and got into our houses and wore our house coloured bibs to play end ball. On Tuesday we went swimming in our usual groups. There are 3 groups, one in the teaching pool, one in the big pool but in the shallow end and one in the big pool but in the deep end. Science on Tuesday was extremely fun as we tested our parachutes by attaching eggs to them and testing them to see if any were good enough to stop the eggs from breaking.  

On Thursday we watched ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ with Mr Bennett, which linked brilliantly with our study of the Vikings this half term. We have also had fun this week in maths learning how to use a protractor to measure and draw angles. 5LC have now finished reading our Reading Skills book ‘Oranges in No Man’s Land’. It has been really interesting reading it. ​

Last week in Computing we created a light painting using iPad software. We used slow motion camera techniques including choosing the shutter speed, the light sensitivity and zoom. To create effective pictures, we had to go into a dark room so we could see the lights being used. We used finger lights to make our painting, in a range of colours. Everyone enjoyed the lesson and learnt new skills using the software as this was a new experience.  ​

This week in Maths we started a new unit on Shape. We have been learning about the differences between the three different types of angle (right angle, acute angle and obtuse angles). We made our own right angle checker by folding a circle into quarters and using two edges as the checker. We found lots of right angles in our classroom and named the different angles in 2D shapes. Some of us sorted shapes into Venn diagrams and others solved different problems by investigating the questions. For example, how many angles are there in the letters of your name?

We have really been enjoying our topic about photography this term, especially as we have started using computer software to produce our own ‘Squash and Stretch’ animation. We planned our video by drawing a storyboard with at least six different frames to show a ball bouncing. This week we used iMotion on the iPads to take the photos. It was really hard because sometimes the iPad didn’t stay still and sometimes the Play-doh fell off the stand. However, it was really fun and most of us were happy with our final video.

In English we have been writing diaries. As our class book is The Iron Man, we have been using him to gather ideas. In Reading Skills we have been looking at classic texts. We have read extracts of Wind in the Willows and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. We used clues in the text to work out what the characters were feeling and thinking.

We were lucky to be able to use the sunny weather this week in science because we have been learning about what makes a good shadow. We went outside and found different shadows before making our own using our hands.